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Phobos-Grunt and Yinghou-1 Arrive at Baikonur Launch Site to tight Mars Deadline

[/caption] Barely in the nick of time, Russia’s groundbreaking Phobos-Grunt interplanetary spacecraft to Mars finally arrived on Monday (Oct. 17) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan – and today (Oct. 18) an eye-popping collection of great images (see below) was at last published by Roskosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency. This first-of-its-kind spaceship …

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Spaceport America Opens With ‘Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space’

[/caption] Do you want to buy a ticket to outer space? Fly into orbit for the most breathtaking views of Earth possible? Well, those dreams for many took a step closer to reality yesterday as the world’s first commercial spaceport officially opened with dedication ceremonies for the new home of Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, in …

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NASA Strengthens Virgin Galactic Ties With New Contract

[/caption] NASA has, on a number of occasions tapped the NewSpace firm Virgin Galactic to help the space agency accomplish its objectives – recently, it has done so again. This new contract will see NASA science payloads take suborbital flights on the company’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spacecraft. This however is not the first time that NASA …

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Former Space Shuttle Manager Mike Moses Joins Virgin Galactic

[/caption] One of the most respected members of NASA’s space shuttle program has joined Virgin Galactic as the commercial space company’s Vice President of Operations. Mike Moses, NASA’s former Space Shuttle Launch Integration Manager, will oversee the planning and execution of all operations at Virgin Galactic’s headquarters at Spaceport America in New Mexico. In a …

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Student Alert: GRAIL Naming Contest – Essay Deadline November 11

[/caption] Student Alert ! – Here’s your once in a lifetime chance to name Two NASA robots speeding at this moment to the Moon on a super science mission to map the lunar gravity field. They were successfully launched from the Earth to the Moon on September 10, 2011. Right now the robots are called …

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Expedition 28 Soyuz Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

[/caption] The three man Soyuz TMA-21 crew of cosmonauts and astronauts comprising of Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, Expedition 28 commander Andrey Borisenko and NASA flight engineer Ronald Garan made a pinpoint landing following a flawless descent and touched down safely in the southern steppes of Kazakhstan at 12:00 AM EDT today, Sept. 16, (10 AM local …

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Russian Space Agency Sets Dates for Resuming Progress, Soyuz Launches

[/caption] The Russia space agency has set dates for resuming flights with the Progress and Soyuz spacecraft. After determining the cause of the failure and crash of a Soyuz-U rocket carrying a Progress cargo ship bound for the International Space Station last month, Roscomos said they will be resuming flights soon, and the next Soyuz-U …

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It Turns Out Some Borders *Are* Visible from Space

[/caption] There is an oft-repeated and perhaps beautiful saying that you can’t see political borders from space. Well, it turns out that saying isn’t true; not anymore. ISS astronaut Ron Garan took this image recently which clearly shows the border between India and Pakistan. Since 2003, India has illuminated the border with Pakistan by floodlights …

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